Sen. Ron Johnson Pushes Back on Trump-Backed Tax Bill, Urges Greater Fiscal Discipline

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is standing firm against pressure to support President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending reform package, warning that the legislation doesn’t go far enough to tackle the ballooning national debt.

Speaking to reporters following the House’s narrow passage of what has been dubbed the “big, beautiful bill,” Johnson expressed deep concern about the bill’s long-term fiscal impact and criticized his House GOP colleagues for setting “the bar way too low.”

“They just kept talking about $1.5 trillion. They set the bar way too low,” Johnson said Friday morning.
“The goal of the House effort has been to pass one big, beautiful bill. It’s rhetoric. It’s false advertising. The goal should have been reduce average annual deficits, so we have to focus on spending.”

The legislation—backed heavily by President Trump and his administration—aims to lock in key components of the 2017 tax cuts, eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, and cut federal spending by over $1 trillion. The President has promoted the bill as a cornerstone of his second-term economic agenda, calling on Congress to move quickly before the midsummer debt ceiling deadline.

Still, not all conservatives are on board.

When pressed on whether he would yield to political pressure from the White House, Johnson made it clear he won’t be swayed by tactics used to corral support in the House.

“In the House, President Trump can threaten a primary, and those guys want to keep their seats. I understand the pressure,” Johnson said. “Can’t pressure me that way.”

The Wisconsin senator, known for his staunch fiscal conservatism, pointed to the ever-climbing national debt as a reason for restraint.

“I ran in 2010 because we were mortgaging our children’s future. It’s wrong,” he said.
“We were $14 trillion in debt, now we’re $37 [trillion]. Have you been watching what the bond markets are doing in relation to the one big, beautiful bill? They’re not thinking it’s a very big, beautiful bill.”

Critics of the legislation, including the Congressional Budget Office, warn that extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts could add trillions to the deficit over the next decade. But President Trump and his team have argued that the pro-growth policies embedded in the bill will drive U.S. economic expansion, ultimately increasing federal revenues and easing the debt burden over time.

The White House maintains that, by unlocking American innovation and business activity, GDP growth could exceed 3% annually—enough, they argue, to begin reducing deficits without compromising on prosperity.

Meanwhile, the House GOP bill includes over $1 trillion in proposed cuts to federal spending, targeting entitlement reform in programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Trump administration insists the bill is deficit-neutral, though some lawmakers are pressing for even more aggressive fiscal tightening.

“Everybody likes the tax cut, but when you’re $37 trillion in debt on the path to over $60 trillion in debt, right, when the Social Security Trust Fund is running out, somebody’s got to be the dad that says, ‘I know everybody wants to go to Disney World, but we just can’t afford it,’” Johnson said Thursday.
“So, I guess, I guess that’s what’s going to have to happen here in the Senate.”

With time running out, President Trump has urged the Senate to move fast. The bill also includes a $4 trillion increase to the federal debt ceiling, giving the Treasury Department additional borrowing capacity to meet the nation's obligations.

Some Republicans support the increase as a necessary step to avoid a fiscal crisis and a political showdown with Democrats. Others, like Johnson, remain cautious—insisting any hike must be paired with real structural reforms.

“I’d increase the debt ceiling up to a point to give us time to focus on another big, beautiful bill,” he said.

As the Senate prepares to take up the legislation, Johnson’s remarks highlight the ongoing divide within the Republican Party—between those focused on immediate political gains and those, like him, demanding lasting fiscal accountability.